Most of us who have more than a cursory knowledge of folklore understand that the popular notion of a “fairy” today is completely different than in earlier eras, and that the fae were often considered very dangerous, and even as evil beings by Church authorities.

What many people don't know, however, was that communing with fairies was an act that could get you accused of witchcraft during the witch trial era.

Emma Wilby is the scholar of choice for this topic, and her work was cited in my article "When Witches Communed with Fairies." Research for that article urged me to delve deeper into the subject of "Popular Religion" ​to discover how old beliefs mingled with new, and how the beliefs and practices of the common folk differed from the beliefs sanctioned by the Church.

Conversion of the Anglo-Saxons and Melding of Belief

​She discusses the Christianized Anglo-Saxon era a few hundred years prior to the major witch hunting period, but it’s important for anyone interested in the later witch trials because it explores the cultural tradition that Britain was moving out of during the later years of the Reformation and witch craze.

In Chapter One, Jolly explains that the way scholars have looked at conversion and popular religion has been problematic. We tend to be binary in our thinking, seeing trends and actions through a lens of dualism. It’s this, or it’s that. It’s Christian, or it’s pagan. It’s good, or it’s evil.

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​​The conversion of a culture to a new and foreign religion imposed upon them from the outside will inevitably be met with culture clash which can continue on for generations to centuries. By late Saxon England, the 10th century, England had been “converted” for several hundred years already.

​Indeed, we know that Bede famously laments his dealings with the Heathens desperately clinging to their old ways despite the admonishment of the Church. That was in the 8th century.

​So, if Church leaders had taken Pope Gregory’s earlier advice on how to handle the English, we can suspect that the peasantry had been nominally converted by the 10th century.

However, the way we consider what a conversion ought to look like changes things. Again, is it this or is it that, or is it more than either of those things?

We’re looking at late Saxon England (and, later, Early Modern Scotland, I’ll get to that in a minute) through the lens of us modern people who went from nominally converted, to rigorously reformed, to "Enlightened."

​So what we, personally, have experienced and understood Christianity to be is not necessarily what it meant to the people of 10th century England.

Anglo-Saxon England, click to zoom

Having been instructed to absorb pagan practices into Christianity to make the conversion process more palatable, is it any wonder then that old pagan Saxon charms were still being spoken (albeit with the names of Christian Saints inserted) four hundred years after the nominal conversion? (More on conversion era and folk religion here).

Detail from the Lindisfarne Gospel, created in Anglo-Saxon England

The modern pagan who discovers these things often automatically thinks “ah-ha! Proof that they were still pagan!”

This reaction comes equally from contemporary Christians delighting in pointing out thorough Christianization at early periods in European history.

​Unfortunately, they will both be disappointed.

Jolly points out that popular religion falls into a grey area. The people on the ground saw their pagan origin charms in a purely Christian context.

​The structure of their words may be a pagan inheritance, but it is being said strictly within a Christian context.

So is it pagan, or Christian? Neither, or both? Or is it something more?

The Ruthwell Cross in Scotland depicts Christ with an Anglo-Saxon runic inscription surrounding the image.

Popular Religion in Reformation Era Scotland

Fast forward in time another 600 years to 17th century Reformation Scotland, and we see a similar phenomenon going on.

When Religion Shifts, the Fae are Scapegoated!

What does this have to do with “Elfin casualties?” Well in reading and thinking about all of this, it occurred to me that in English and Scottish culture (and in other European areas as well) that belief in elves and fairies carried on consistently despite the many religio-cultural shifts that occurred over the last 2,000 years. It was our beliefs about them that changed.

Elves by Arthur Rackham

​In native European religion, the wights of the land were often neither “good” nor “bad.”

Some “races” of spirits might be more likely to be helpful than others, but typically the human/spirit interaction was dependent on the way in which the human approached the spirit. If the spirit was offended, watch out!

​But, if supplicated with an offering, a nice bowl of porridge for instance, a congenial kobalt might be willing to help cobble your shoes while you sleep.

Christianity, with its dualistic worldview, declared that all spirits that were not angels were demons.

​Elves still existed, but they were now universally evil (at least as declared by the pulpit, but not necessarily as practiced on the popular level).

Jolly discusses the question of whether late Saxon culture should be considered “Christianized Germans” or “Germanized Christians.”

​There was a fusion of two belief systems that resulted in its own new world view that was somewhere in the middle.

It occurred to me, having been thinking of the persecution of cunning folk many centuries later, that the Early Modern period was still emerging from this cultural background.

Of course, the urban centers were experiencing the origins of the Scientific Revolution. And the aristocracy was absorbed in the Protestant Reformation.

​But, at the local level, especially in rural areas, the peasantry were living with this fusion of culture that had occurred 600 years prior.

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​They still believed in the power of words, and thus recited charms as they applied an herbal poultice to a wound. They still believed that spirits were all around them, throughout the landscape, and these spirits could help or harm.

Elves by Arthur Rackham

The Scottish witch huntera is like the conversion era in that it represents another societal shift whereby those who haven’t moved quick enough are more or less targeted by the new establishment.

Yet, despite these shifts, our folk traditions have managed to survive and linger on, even if by a thread. This may be due in part to our collective cultural unconscious that won't let us forget our own deep roots.

It is the nature of society to shift and change. But, as we continue to adjust to whatever life the future has in store for us, I have just one request:

Please stop taking your angst out on the fairies!

Illustration by Edmund Dulac

​​My name is Carolyn Emerick, and I write on the history, myth, and folklore of Northwestern Europe.

Explore this website for more on European history, mythology, and folk tradition. Please check out the section for my books!